


Bruce's Biggest Fans

by DarkHarmony



Category: Avengers, MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 10:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16871065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHarmony/pseuds/DarkHarmony
Summary: Most people look at Bruce Banner and all they see is the Hulk. He hates it and tries to stay away from kids for the same reason.Enter Peter Parker.





	Bruce's Biggest Fans

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, this work isn't Betaed. All mistakes are mine. Please forgive the occasional typo.

Bruce Banner would be the first to let you know that he hated the Hulk. He would rather kill himself than be with the guy, but he couldn’t- because of the guy. He hated the fame. He never felt like he could belong, not with the Hulk always riding shotgun. After the big green rage-monster came along, no one looked at him the same. Not until one fateful day he met Tony Stark.

            Tony’s reputation preceded him, but quickly he learned that the news never did get anything right. Iron Man was a hero to many, but to Bruce, the true hero would always be the man beneath the armor. In the madness that was his life after the Avengers had ‘assembled’, he seemed to forget his rivalry with the monster within, but when he stared at the stars at nights, the nostalgia would come back. He used to be a world-renowned scientist before Hulk. Now, he was known as the dumb mass of flesh that destroyed everything in its path.

            And then Thanos happened- he didn’t like thinking about that time. And then Tony made it all better.

              Still, Steve and Tony never could be what they were and Tony got a lot more reserved. He barely allowed anyone to come into his lab anymore. There were the regulars- Pepper and Rhodey. Then there was another Doctor- Steven Strange, he’d heard the name. The finest in Neurosurgery or so he’d heard. But he did some magic now, which made no sense to Bruce. Understandingly, Tony stayed well enough away from Natasha, Clint, Scott, and Wanda. Heartbreakingly, he stayed away from Vision 2.0.

Tony had also befriended Princess Shuri of Wakanda- Bruce knew Tony well enough to know that Tony liked and respected her far more than he did the King. Moreover, the Spiderman was Tony’s… well, Bruce was not sure. 'Friend' was too casual, 'mentee' too formal. More like a nephew. Definitely protégé. Hopefully legacy.

            Bruce had never met the Spider-ling properly. He’d waved and the kid had waved back from across the room, with missile proof glass separating them. Secretly, he didn’t want to meet the kid. It wasn’t about any bias against kids, he just didn’t like how cheerful they looked when they asked about Hulk. To kids, that’s all Bruce was: The Hulk. And he didn’t want or need reminding.

            That’s why he had to take a deep breath when he walked in Tony’s lab. He really needed some equipment for the new tests he wanted to run about Beta-Gamma-Theta waves and Tony didn’t mind. Only, he could see the two kids with their heads bent over, working on something. They were watching some video on their Stark phones.

            They sighed as the video ended and the princess said, “That’s the last episode of the series, you know how it is, Pete: the Lord Yeeth and the Lord Yoinketh away.” The boy nodded as if he had received sage advice and then said:

“I guess you're right,” he replied. “A doggie dog world we live in.”

Tony, who was sitting across from them in a black tee and Khaki pants, coffee cup that declared ‘#1 DAD’ in hand, scrolling through the news on of the screens, said, without missing a beat, “This is so sad! Alexa, play Despacito.”

Bruce, who spoke 9 languages with excellent fluency, could honestly not tell you what was being said. He shuffled down to the gamma radiator and Tony looked up. “Hey, Bruce!”

Bruce smiled back, “Hey Tony!”

Instantly, the kids looked back and Peter froze at the sight of him. _Here it comes,_ thought Bruce, preparing himself for the barrage of questions. Peter, however, looked to Tony with big pleading eyes and Tony smirked before saying, “Go on kid, go say hi.”

Peter came up to him, almost vibrating with excitement and then the floodgates opened, “Hello Mr. Ban- Doctor, Doctor Banner. I- I- I’m a huge fan. I read all about you.” And frankly, Bruce could all but expect the next question. “You thesis on Gamma Radiation is- is- amazing! And I read your paper on Alpha waves and it was- brilliant! God, you're amazing. And Mr. Stark told me all about your experiments with genetic coding- I know it didn’t go perfectly but your science head-cannon was so good-”

“My- my what?” Bruce asked, surprised and all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Your hypothesis,” replied Dr. Stephen Strange, who had walked in about half a second ago.

“We learnt all about you in school,” continued the child. “And I mean, I know, I know it’s kinda lame… but, and I mean you don’t have to… but would you autograph my copy of your book: Gamma Radiation and Man. I mean, I don’t have it right now, but I can get it, it won't take a long time, Dr. Strange can portal me. It’ll only take a minute. You're my favorite biologist and you're the most renowned scientist-”

“Excuse me?” said Shuri, but it was in jest.

“Shuri,” replied Peter, “we found out you existed like 5 seconds ago.”

“You right, you right!” nodded Shuri. “Besides, my brother says that Dr. Banner is the smartest man, no matter who you fill the room with.”

Bruce looked at Tony, waiting for a rebuttal, but all Tony said was ‘Ain’t that the Tea’ and sipped his coffee.

“What no argument from any of you ‘awesome facial hair bros’?” laughed Bruce, insecure but trying to cover it up. “Ask the paparazzi and they’ll say the two of you can’t stay in a room because of the size of your egos. You disappoint.”

Both of them laughed. Tony then shook his head and said, “Neither of us seven PhDs.”

“Wait!” cried Shuri, “You haVE SEVEN PhDs??? WHAT DID YOU EVEN DO!? THAT’S AMAZING. CAN YOU BE MY NEW SCIENCE TUTOR?”

“I ASKED FIRST!” cried Peter. “ALSO, I’M GETTING AN AUTOGRAPH.”

“I ALSO WANT AN AUTOGRAPH!” chimed Shuri. They looked at Bruce with puppy dog eyes, and really, who was Bruce to refuse.

“I- Yeah,” Bruce cleared his throat and hoped that his eyes weren’t glistening with tears. “I can do that.”

“YASS!” both the kids all but yelled and then high-fived.

With a second’s deliberation, Peter went to Bruce and shook his hand. “I- I know you probably hear this all the time, but I’m your biggest fan.”

“I met him first, though,” declared Shuri. “Therefore, I know him longest.”

Tony snorted from his seat. “You wish, kid! That place was taken by me a long time ago.”

Strange rolled his eyes. “Puh-lease. I met him at a medical conference in 1998. So…”

 “That proves nothing.” denied Shuri. “Except that you're both incredibly old!” Then realization struck. “You’ve been to Asgard, right?” Bruce nodded, he wasn’t ‘Bruce’ long enough to form an emotional attachment but he hated hearing the name for how Thor usually reacted. So lonely, so forlorn. “Well, that’s great. Everyone but me has gone to outer space. Wonderful.”

Peter gave her a look and then turned to Dr. Strange. “Portal please?”

“You,” said Bruce, gathering all his courage, “don’t need to get it right now. Because, well, you can't be my fan.” Before Peter could protest, though, Bruce continued. “How can you be a fan when you're family?”

Tony smiled and got up. The man wasn’t what you’d label a ‘hugger’ but he sure did know when someone needed one. Peter and Shuri joined in as a red Cloak draped itself over them. Doctor Strange smiled from the distance.

When they parted, the three went to work on some bionic arm made of vibramium metal. Strange didn’t particularly react when Bruce came over and settled down on the sofa beside him. He only smiled and draped an arm across the sofa’s back, making sure Bruce felt accepted and included. Oh, but Strange didn’t say a word. After all, he wasn’t that kind of a doctor.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!  
> Kudos and Comments much appriciated :)


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